The definitive collection of mythology, although from a decidedly Anglo Christian perspective. It's actually interesting to ferret out the slant Bulfinch brings to a text which would benefit from a less biased perspective. It is helpful to have a basic knowledge of the myths that have informed culture, both classical and popular over the years. It's also very useful for doing crosswords. ( )

I worked my way through this thick volume over the course of a few weeks in August, wanting to take my time with it and dig in a bit. I didn't find Bulfinch's summaries all that interesting, in the end, but I suspect it will be useful to have this book around for the occasional reference need. It's certainly a handy thing to have so many different mythologies highlighted within two covers. ( )

A very interesting read. A lot of the myths I read elsewhere are completely different than the ones I read elsewhere. I'm not sure which myths are the more prevalent, but the differences were very interesting.

As I like to include some mythology and mythological stories into my writings, I think this will be a very helpful tool. My copy of "D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths" brings in the whimsical, while "Bulfinch's" bring in a more practical view. ( )

An excellent introduction to the stories told by our ancestors to each other in the dark winter evenings. The tales are summarised, the characters listed, and the subject ready for you to explore deeper if you wish. ( )

If no other knowledge deserves to be called useful but that which helps to enlarge our possessions or to raise our station in society, then mythology has no claim to the appellation. (Preface)

The religions of ancient Greece and Rome are extinct. (Chapter One)

Quotations

Last words

There, in company with the great King Arthur of Britain, he still lives, and when his illustrious friend shall return to resume his ancient reign, he will doubtless return with him, and share his triumph.

They took and fired Saragossa, and Marseilles was hung to the carob-tree under which he had planned his villainy with Gan; and Gans was hung and drawn and quartered in Roncesville, amidst the execrations of the country.

For almost a century and a half, Bulfinch's Mythology has been the text by which the great tales of the gods and goddesses, Greek and Roman antiquity; Scandinavian, Celtic, and Oriental fables and myths; and the age of chivalry have been known. The stories are divided into three sections: The Age of Fable or Stories of Gods and Heroes (first published in 1855); The Age of Chivalry (1858), which contains King Arthur and His Knights, The Mabinogeon, and The Knights of English History; and Legends of Charlemagne or Romance of the Middle Ages (1863). For the Greek myths, Bulfinch drew on Ovid and Virgil, and for the sagas of the north, from Mallet's Northern Antiquities. He provides lively versions of the myths of Zeus and Hera, Venus and Adonis, Daphne and Apollo, and their cohorts on Mount Olympus; the love story of Pygmalion and Galatea; the legends of the Trojan War and the epic wanderings of Ulysses and Aeneas; the joys of Valhalla and the furies of Thor; and the tales of Beowulf and Robin Hood. The tales are eminently readable. As Bulfinch wrote, "Without a knowledge of mythology much of the elegant literature of our own language cannot be understood and appreciated. . . . Our book is an attempt to solve this problem, by telling the stories of mythology in such a manner as to make them a source of amusement."

Thomas Bulfinch, in his day job, was a clerk in the Merchant's Bank of Boston, an undemanding position that afforded him ample leisure time in which to pursue his other interests. In addition to serving as secretary of the Boston Society of Natural History, he thoroughly researched the myths and legends and copiously cross-referenced them with literature and art. As such, the myths are an indispensable guide to the cultural values of the nineteenth century; however, it is the vigor of the stories themselves that returns generation after generation to Bulfinch.